Concert: U2, O2 London (#3)

Last night's U2 concert clashed with leaving drinks for the latest of our number to jump ship. Well, I went for two in the end - left at abt 7.20, and was in my seat in the O2 by 8.15. It was surreal, walking in past merchandising stalls with no queues whatsoever! By the time I got to the foyer, they were making announcements about being about to start, and would people take their seats. I needed to go to the loo, but couldn't see any nearby, and with those announcements, I got a bit spooked.. so I decided I'd live, and went straight to my seat. Of course, I'd easily have had time - I wasn't wearing my watch by the time they came on, as I can injure myself while fist-pumping, but they can't have started before 8.30. Again.

Setlist:

SET 1

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
Gloria
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Iris (Hold Me Close)
Cedarwood Road
Song for Someone
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Raised By Wolves
Until The End Of The World

SET 2

Invisible
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
New Year's Day
Every Breaking Wave
October
Bullet The Blue Sky
Zooropa
Where The Streets Have No Name
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
With Or Without You

ENCORE

City Of Blinding Lights
Beautiful Day
Bad
People Have The Power

Bono's wife was in the house, as usual, and namechecked at Song for Someone, which was of course written for her.. The girl pulled up for Mysterious Ways was chosen for her glittery cats-ears - afterwards, Bono realised he'd pulled her out before! It was Anna, from Sarajevo. Which prompted him to reveal to us that both he and his wife have Bosnian passports..! He didn't explain why.

New Year's Day was a pleasant surprise! I hadn't seen it this year before, and I don't think they'd played it this year yet, either - Bono remarked that this would be interesting, it'd been a while! I also never noticed before how complicated it is for The Edge to play - he has to switch multiple times between guitar and piano, so there he was, sat at the piano with a guitar strapped across him for easy access, and Bono leaning on the piano, admiring his dexterity..

Of all songs, Where the Streets Have No Name had to be the one where Bono fluffed the lines! He sang the very first line wrong. The one song - as I'd just remarked to myself - that they've played at every one of the concerts I've seen them at (last night marked my 50th!). He shook his head in irritation - never mind, we all knew the correct words. :-)

Beautiful Day was dedicated to Paul McGuinness, also apparently in the house. Bad was a lovely surprise, again - so far this year, when I've seen it has only been at the last show in any given city. But there was more to come - for my money, and that of many others, the best moment of the night was the very last song. Bono comes on to People Have the Power, by Patti Smith - well, you know, they've developed a habit of bringing people on for the last song in London, and last night.. Patti Smith came on, to perform that same song live! Awesome end! How they're going to top it, I don't know.. Anyway, blatantly ignoring official finish times, last night they finished at 11.10..

There hadn't been a busker at the station when I arrived. The regular one was back when I was leaving - he must've booked out the full week! I might give him something, one of these nights. Anyway, he was playing U2 again. As for the crowds on the Tube, they're still not clued-in as to where to go to get on the trains comfortably! I think what happens is they come down the stairs, and even if they don't congregate right there, they move straight ahead. All of them. Without, apparently, realising that there's a whole stretch of platform in the other direction! Which stays pretty empty, although a few more had cottoned on to the secret last night. Moral of the story - when you come down the stairs, TURN BACK!

I made my way to Westminster, and up all those escalators to the District Line. As I was walking along the platform, it was announced that, due to an earlier signal failure, there were severe delays on the District and Circle Lines, and people were advised.. to take the Jubilee Line! Damnation, I could just have stayed on, had I known. All the way back down again, and one more stop to Green Park.. where there's a helluva hike to the Piccadilly Line.. which I had to wait five minutes for. When I finally got to Earl's Court, there was a Wimbledon-bound train on the platform - joy! And I'd just got on when the driver informed us that the train on the other platform was also headed there, and would be leaving first. Yippee, a considerate driver! I finally got home at 12.20am. And went straight to the toilet.

And I'm doing it all again tonight. Might get there a bit earlier.. grabbing something to eat would be nice, dinner last night was a handful of peanuts..